Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/349

Rh of low prickly bush, interspersed with an immense variety of the Cactus, of all shapes and sizes, filled with Censontlis, and other singing birds, growing alternately on a sandy or strong soil,—such are the characteristics of the vegetation, where any vegetation is to be found. Nor is the descent on the Zimapan side less monotonous or fatiguing. It is very steep, and the path, which is covered with loose stones, is so narrow that it will seldom admit of two persons abreast. On the whole road we only crossed two small streams, at one of which we halted to breakfast.

The town of Zĭmăpān is situated about twelve leagues from Ītzmĭquīlpăn, and forty-two from the Capital: it is the head of a district, the mines of which were formerly very productive. During the Revolution they were suffered to go completely to ruin, having not only been abandoned by the real proprietors, but worked by Buscones, or common miners, who, unwilling to quit a place where they had long resided, have gained a subsistence, during the last sixteen years, by extracting ores from the upper levels and pillars of the principal mines, many of which they have entirely destroyed in the course of their operations.

With regard to the maximum of the Silver previously raised in the district, I was unable to obtain any information that could be depended upon, most of the registers having been lost during the Revolution, when the town was continually changing